14 DAY TRIAL // Canonical's Łukasz Zemczak has just informed us about the new features and bugfixes implemented in the forthcoming Ubuntu Touch OTA-7 software update, due for release on October 19, 2015.
As we reported the other day, the most important change in the OTA-7 update is a patch for a critical security vulnerability in the application installation system, which could allow malicious apps to change the boot splash and give root access to intruders. The fix has been released already to existing Ubuntu Phone users, but it's also included in this version.
Today we want to share with you the details of the OTA-7 update for Ubuntu Touch. Therefore, among the new features implemented, we can mention support for searching browser history, HTTP basic auth support in the Web Browser app, support for Likes and Retweets for Scopes, support for the AMR codec, and Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) support in the Gallery app.
Additionally, the context menu of the Web Browser app has been improved (the copy/paste functionality is missing though, see the last paragraph for details), and it is now possible to run the Web Browser app in an AppArmor container, which now uses less memory by default. The ability to avoid Web Apps from displaying a white screen has also been implemented in the Web Browser app.
Fixes, lots of fixes
Considering the fact that the list of bugfixes for the Ubuntu Touch operating system gets bigger with every new release, the developers now concentrate their efforts on fixing as many of them as possible. OTA-7 plugs numerous memory leaks, fixes security vulnerabilities, addresses issues with the aggressive watchdog, improves screen blanking, disables crash report uploads by default, and fixes issues with the QML cache.
A known issue remains in this update, the missing copy/paste context menu from the Web Browser app, which will be fixed in OTA-8. In conclusion, Ubuntu Touch OTA-7 is another worthy update full of under-the-hood improvements and some new features that will be available for the BQ Aquaris E4.5, BQ Aquaris E5 HD, Meizu MX4, Nexus 4, and Nexus 7 devices.